This isn’t the first time Barry Manilow has said farewell; There was that One Last Time! Tour back in 2015, if you recall. But the Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winner says he means it when he says these are the Final Concert dates he’s playing around the country — including this week at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena. “We`re saying goodbye in these cities that have been so supportive,” Manilow, 81, explains from a tour stop in Boston. “It`s kind of a bittersweet experience for me because I know that I’m not coming back here and (the fans — or Fanilows) know I’m not coming back here. And when I finish and I say ‘goodbye’ it IS goodbye. I’ve never felt that before. Usually I know that (on) the next tour, I’ll probably come back here. But this time I know I’m not coming back to these cities. I’ve been doing this for so many years, and I’ve done these cities over and over and over, but this IS it.”The fact that it has been so long, and so successful, is not lost on Manilow. Born Barry Pincus in Brooklyn and educated at the New York College of Music and Julliard Performing Arts School, Manilow started out during the mid-60s as a producer and arranger and subsequently an advertising jingle writer for products such as Band-Aid, State Farm Insurance (“Like a good neighbor…” is his), McDonald’s (“you deserve a break today”), Dr. Pepper, and more. He worked with Tony Orlando and, in 1971, became Bette Midler’s accompanist and bandleader, as well as the producer of her first two albums.

Being an artist himself, however, wasn’t an ambition. “I never started out wanting to do anything like this,” explains Manilow, whose debut album came out during 1973. “I wanted to be a musician, and that was it. I wanted to be Nelson Riddle when I grew up, that guy who was an arranger and conductor big artists. I never thought about becoming an entertainer, a performer, or even a singer. I’ve always been uncomfortable doing that. I’d much rather be in a recording studio, or be a member of band.

“So when I found myself standing on stage, talking to an audience, singing to them — that was the craziest thing ever. I never thought that’s what I would wind up doing, and that I would be good at it. That was a big surprise. They kept throwing me out there and saying, ‘We like you…’”

That would be an understatement.

Manilow has sold more than 85 million records worldwide and scored 17 Top 20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Fifteen of those also hit No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, including staples such as “Mandy, “Can’t Smile Without You,” “Looks Like We Made It” and “I Write the Songs.” (“Copacabana (At the Copa)” was Top 10. And in addition to the aforementioned awards Manilow has also won a pair of American Music Awards, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame during 1980 and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame during 2002 — among other honors.

Nevertheless, he insists now, “I don’t love it. When this singing and performing thing happened, I couldn`t wait for it to stop! I wanted to back to where I was comfortable. I kept hoping the next single would bomb so I could go back to what I really want to do.” But Manilow also acknowledges that he’s more than made peace with his status in the entertainment world.

“I really do like it now,” he says. “I know my way around the stage. I know how to talk to these audiences. I know that each song is going to be the greatest version of the song I can do. I’m still healthy and can still hit the high notes; the night I can’t hit the F natural on ‘Even Now,’ that’s the night I throw in the towel. “But I can still do it.”

A big part of the drive, Manilow adds, is an audience that’s stuck with him throughout his career, including change-ups like 1982’s rock-flavored “Here Comes the Night” and jazzy diversions such as 1984’s jazzy “2:00 AM Paradise Cafe” and 1987’s “Swing Street,” or his “Singin’ With the Big Bands” in 1994 and “Manilow Sings Sinatra” tribute in 1998. During 2006 and 2007 he also presented decades albums dedicated to the 50s, 60s and 70s.

“When I think about what I’ve done, I think I made (fans) feel good,” Manilow explains. “I hope you sing with me and laugh a little bit and feel better when you leave than when you come in. I think that’s every entertainer’s job; certainly, it’s mine. I think I did that, and I’m proud of it — and I’m still doing it.”

And, he adds, he’s still doing it at his fans’ direction.

“The only change over the years is that the audiences don’t want to hear things that they’ve never heard before,” Manilow says. “Years ago the audience did want to hear the album cuts and stuff; now they want to hear things that they know, and I’m one of the lucky guys who has a catalog that I can fill up 90 minutes with songs that they all know.

“Whenever I do something they don’t know I can hear the air go out of the room. And then I do something they do know, and they go crazy. So they’re telling me what they want, and I’m happy to do it.”

Manilow is keeping the Final Concert tour open-ended; “I hope I can do it for a couple more years,” he says. He’s also maintaining a residency at the Westgate Laas Vegas Resort & Casino, which resumes June 12, and he’s putting the finishing touches on a new album he hopes to have out by the end of summer and describes as a “Barry pop record” that he’s completely revised in recent years for a “more contemporary sound.”

His stage musical “Harmony,” about the 1920s Comedian Harmonists singing ensemble, wrapped up its Broadway run during February of 2024 and is preparing to transition into a touring show, though Manilow will not be involved in that. “It was a wonderful experience, but I’m done with that. We got to take it Broadway and it was great, and I did get to do an original cast album, and I’m very proud of that one. It was a great experience.”

So what would Manilow still like to do?

“I’m sure there are (things), but I can’t think of them now,” he says with a laugh. “You look now and there’s Billy Joel, which is so horrible, and Elton (John) is not well and Rod (Stewart) and Neil (Diamond)…It’s like, `What? Am I the only one left?’ Diana Ross is still in great shape, I think, but there must be a handful of people in my world who are still there.

“So while I’m strong and I’ve still got my voice and my energy and I can still do it, I don’t feel a need to not do it.”